Death and Burial

Dying, funerals and the dead: passing bells, sin-eaters, maidens’ garlands, dressing the graves and watching for who will die.

The year ahead

Thursday 1 October

Saturday 31 October

Sunday 1 November

Folklore from the old calendars

Ringing for all Christian souls No longer kept EnglandBefore the Reformation the church bells were rung all night at Allhallowtide for all Christian souls.
The Cheshire souling song Still kept CheshireOn the eve of All Souls' Day parties of boys in Cheshire went souling from door to door, singing for apples, pears, plums, beer or money.
Souling in Staffordshire No longer kept StaffordshireTollett noted that on All Saints' Day the poor of Staffordshire went from parish to parish souling, begging and singing for soul cakes or anything else to make them merry.
Dole bread in Monmouthshire No longer kept MonmouthshireBritton wrote in his Cathedral Antiquities that in Monmouthshire the poorer people, Catholic and Protestant alike, went begging bread for the souls of the dead on All Saints' Day.

Monday 2 November

Saturday 7 November

Sat 7 Nov from 18:30
Custom

East Hoathly and Halland Carnival

Sets off from High Street, East Hoathly, East Sussex

Friday 25 December

Thursday 31 December

Friday 1 January

Friday 5 February

Monday 8 March New moon

Sunday 21 March

Saturday 24 April

Folklore from the old calendars

Riddling chaff at Malton Lore and belief YorkshireIn Yorkshire people riddled chaff at midnight in a barn with its doors thrown open, to learn whether they would die within the year.
The Scarborough watcher who saw herself Lore and belief YorkshireAbout eighty years before Henderson wrote, an old woman kept the St Mark's Eve watch in the porch of St Mary's, Scarborough, to see who would die that year.
Riddling the ashes Lore and belief EnglandCottage families on St Mark's Eve sifted the ashes over the hearth-stone at night, hoping not to find in the morning the footprint of anyone who would die that year.
Joe Brown the church watcher Lore and belief YorkshireIn Yorkshire a watcher at the church door at midnight on St Mark's Eve, Old Style, was said to see the souls of all who would be buried there within the year go into the church in the order they would die, those to drown coming in splashing and struggling.
The church-porch watchers of Burton Lore and belief LincolnshireIn the north of England it was believed that anyone who watched in the church porch from eleven till one on St Mark's Eve would see the ghosts of all who would be buried there in the coming year.

Sunday 16 May

Wednesday 23 June

Sunday 25 July

Thursday 23 September

Not tied to a day

Death and Burial not tied to a day of the year.

Folklore from the old calendars

An hour-glass in the coffin No longer kept LondonA writer in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1746 recalled stopping in Clerkenwell churchyard in June 1718 to watch a gravedigger who had come upon a long-rotted coffin.
An Open Grave on Sunday Lore and belief EnglandChambers printed a correspondent's collection of sayings about death.
Bells Against Storms and Spirits Lore and belief EnglandChurch bells were blessed and dedicated to a saint before they were hung, and their ringing was believed to scatter storms and drive away evil spirits, which could not bear the sound.
Coffins from the Fire Lore and belief SuffolkChambers's Suffolk correspondent listed the household omens of death.
Corpse Candles Lore and belief CarmarthenshireIn Wales the exhalations seen in churchyards, called corpse candles, were taken as a sign of a funeral to come.
Edward Rose’s Roses Still kept SurreyEdward Rose, a citizen of London who died in the seventeenth century, left the parish of Barnes twenty pounds a year for ever on two conditions: that the railing round his grave be kept up, and that rose trees be planted there and kept flourishing.
Family Spectres of the Highlands Lore and belief HighlandsSome great Highland families were believed to have a warning spirit of their own that visited them.
Lord Lyttelton’s warning Lore and belief SurreyThomas, second Lord Lyttelton, a notorious rake, told friends that a bird had fluttered at his window and a woman in white had warned him he would die at midnight on the third day.
Maiden’s Garlands Still kept Derbyshire, HampshireWhen a young unmarried woman died, a garland was carried before her coffin to the grave and then hung up in the church in her memory.
Phantom funerals in Man Lore and belief Isle of ManWaldron, in his Description of the Isle of Man, wrote that the islanders believed a funeral was acted out by unseen beings before anyone died.
Rosemary for Weddings and Funerals No longer kept EnglandRosemary served at both ends of life.
St Sepulchre’s bell for the condemned No longer kept LondonOn 8 May 1705 Robert Dowe gave fifty pounds to St Sepulchre's, the church beside Newgate prison, so that a bell would be tolled and an exhortation made to condemned prisoners the night before they were hanged.
Staying In Until the Burial No longer kept County DurhamBrand recalled a village in County Durham where it was the rule that a person should not leave the house until the burial of a near relation.
Telling the bees Lore and belief SuffolkIn Suffolk a stray swarm settling on your premises and never claimed by its owner meant a death in the family within the year.
The Apple on the Stream Lore and belief West CountryIn the same western district, to find the body of someone drowned in a river, people sent an apple floating down from above the spot where the body was thought to lie.
The Banshee Lore and belief Highlands, IrelandHone, following Brand, notes that certain families were believed to have their own warnings of a coming death, some by the appearance of a bird and others by a tall woman in white who shrieked about the house.
The Bleeding of the Murdered Lore and belief EnglandIt was widely believed that a murdered body would bleed afresh when the murderer touched it, and King James I repeated the idea in his Daemonologie.
The Brereton tree Lore and belief CheshireCamden wrote that it was commonly believed, and many had told him, that for some days before the death of the heir of the Brereton family a tree trunk was always seen floating in the lake beside their house.
The Clifton sturgeon and the Wardour owls Lore and belief Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire, YorkshireChambers listed several omens of death attached to old families.
The Clothes of the Dead Lore and belief SuffolkWhen a dead person's clothes were given away to the poor, people would say that however good they looked they would not last.
The Coffin in the Barn at Stevenage No longer kept HertfordshireThe Year Book, quoting the Gentleman's Magazine, tells of a Stevenage farmer who died on 1 February and left his estate to his brothers and then his nephew for thirty years, after which he expected to come back to life and have it again.
The Corse-House No longer kept CumberlandA Cumberland correspondent told Hone how, within the previous twenty years, the passing bell sent neighbours to call at the corse-house, as the house of mourning was called.
The Cry of Rossmore Lore and belief LeinsterLord Rossmore, commander of the forces in Ireland, died suddenly in the night between 5 and 6 August 1801 at his Dublin house, having been at a drawing room at the Castle until eleven.
The Death-Watch Lore and belief EnglandThe small beetle called the death-watch, which lives in old wood and ticks like a watch, was long thought to foretell a death in the family.
The Fetch Lore and belief IrelandIn Ireland a fetch was the ghostly double of a living person, and seeing it foretold either long life or a death close at hand: if it was seen in the morning the person would live long, if in the evening they would soon die.
The Hatherleigh Bells No longer kept DevonHone recorded two customs of the bells at Hatherleigh in Devon.
The Oxenham bird Lore and belief DevonThe Oxenham family of South Tawton, near Okehampton, were said to be warned of every death among them by a bird with a white breast, which fluttered about the dying person's bed and then vanished.
The passing bell Still kept EnglandUnder St Mark's Eve Chambers writes of the passing bell, or soul bell, tolled at the time of a death, a custom he thought as old as church bells themselves.
The Sin-eater No longer kept Herefordshire, Shropshire, WalesAubrey recorded that in Herefordshire poor people were hired at funerals to take on the sins of the dead.
Waffs, Swarths and Fye-tokens Lore and belief Cumberland, Northumberland, ScotlandThe appearance of a living person, to himself or to others, was widely taken as a token of death.

Thursday 1 October

Saturday 31 October

Sunday 1 November

Monday 2 November

Saturday 7 November

East Hoathly and Halland Carnival

Friday 25 December

Thursday 31 December

Friday 1 January

Friday 5 February

Monday 8 March🌑 New moon

Sunday 21 March

Saturday 24 April

Sunday 16 May

Wednesday 23 June

Sunday 25 July

Thursday 23 September

Not tied to a day

Image credits

Monday 8 March New moon